For those who’ve pre-ordered, the Ember Blade release date has been pushed back a few months to September to fit in with publishing schedules (and cos it took ages to edit). Apologies. Sept 20th, for definite! You can pre-order the hardback here.

What HAVEN’T I been up to in 2017? Buying Bitcoin, that’s what. Otherwise I would have cashed it in and bought an island full of zombies as a private hunting ground for my friends and I.

What I did (the stuff I can tell you about, anyway) was finish off the Ember Blade, write another book while I was waiting for the edits to get back to me, then edit the Ember Blade some more. Truly, it is epic in all senses, including how long it takes to go through and correct all the lazy similes, turgid sentences and bits that don’t quite add up. Currently it’s slated to appear in June 2018 and since I only have a couple more weeks worth of edits to do, I’m pretty certain that won’t change.

But wait! Another book, did I say? Yes indeed, for I needed a palate cleanser after spending 2 years writing such a weighty tome, so I wrote a zippy book for middle school kids called JACK FROM EARTH. Think Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Star Wars. Knockabout fun perfect for the loved ones in your life too young and innocent to start on RETRIBUTION FALLS. ETA currently unknown as we’ll get into editing it in Jan after I’ve done the final delivery of The Ember Blade.

In scripty news I wrote the pilot ep for a TV adaptation of a bestselling YA series which may or may not arrive on your screens in due course. I did a bunch of other stuff that has to remain secret. Also I’m hoping to have some major news very soon about one of my own projects but then again, I may very well not. As ever, I’ll let you know as soon as something concrete happens.

Also the stork brought another delivery which slowed things down a bit workwise, but was otherwise pretty ace.

So that’s it from 2017. I expect 2018 will see The Ember Blade becoming the major publishing event of the century, just in time for the world to plummet into armageddon. See you later (shortly before I ambush you with a rusty chain and feast on your tender flesh).

I’ll be attending Nine Worlds this weekend since I had such awesome fun there last time. I’ll be there on the Friday and Sunday, but not Saturday as some friends of mine have inconveniently decided to get married right in the middle of the year’s greatest geekfest! Don’t people check their calendars anymore? *eyeroll*

When I’m not in panels I shall very likely be in the bar, er, ‘networking’ or in the gaming room nerding out on all the boardgames I can find all at once. Also I use conventions as an opportunity to hunt down potential rivals and assassinate them, so if they’ve written a good book in the last year or so and they’re at Nine Worlds, they’re probably on my list.

Gosh, I have been a bit quiet on this site, haven’t I? I see you guys have been chatting amongst yourselves, good, good. Well, you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve been working in the meantime. Am about six chapters from the end of Mammoth Tome of Destiny #1, which I’ve been working on since, um, May 2015. It’s coming in at about 300,000 words (same size as A Game Of Thrones, more or less). Once I’m done with it I’ll have to do edit it but should hopefully be done by end of Feb, just in time for my 40th birthday. Release date is shifting around a bit at the moment, but hopefully it’ll be out towards the end of this year: will let you know when it’s nailed down. I do have a title (finally) but everything is under wraps for now at the request of the publisher, so you’ll just have to wait and see!

I have also signed up with Scholastic for a new series of books for children, titled Jack From Earth, which will be released in the UK and US. Initially it’s for two books with more possibly to follow. These will be much shorter and aimed at 8-12 year olds: the same kind of audience as Broken Sky and Malice. They will be tongue-in-cheek science fiction, kind of a Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Star Wars sort of thing.More details on them later when I get round to starting on them: for the next couple of months I will be pounding the Mammoth Tome to get it finished. Epic fantasy is epic. I need a holiday.

So I am! Nine Worlds convention, London, 12-14th August! Behold my schedule. Ignore the panel on Sunday which has strangely been included but which I’m not on. It’s probably not too late to buy tickets! Hurrah!

In other news, am 200K words into my new book, probably another 100K to go. It’s big! Epic fantasy is epic, it turns out. Will let you know when I have a title and when I can reveal more. Current release date is probably end of next year, but nothing fixed yet.

I should put this on the front page one day, but if you want up to date news (such as it is) it’s best to follow me on Twitter @_ChrisWooding_ (note the crafty underscores). And if you want all the secret news I’m not supposed to talk about then find me at the con and buy me a drink.

Eastercon time again! So I will be here on Friday & Saturday 25th-26th of March. Sadly I was a bit late in registering so you won’t see my mug on any panels this year but you’ll probably see it in the bar so come and say hi if you’re around!

Progress report: 9 months, 125k-ish words, and I am just about halfway on my new book. Epic fantasy is epic. Who knew?

Still no title, probably won’t be one till I’m done. Still no details for you, as I want it to be a surprise. Current forecast looks like late 2017 pub date but it might slip. Long wait, but given its length, look on it as getting two books at once. Certainly feels like writing two books back to back…

I will be doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Reddit Fantasy on Tues 8th. I’ll be popping in and out all day (UK time) to answer questions, so if there’s anything you have a burning desire to know or say, bring it on!

GollanczFest 2015 tomorrow! Yay! So in the meantime I’ve been slaving on my WiP. That’s Work in Progress for those who don’t deal in acronyms. I live in London, we’re too busy to use complete words here in the big city – or the BC, AWLTS (as we like to say). I’m just making stuff up now.

So, news is I am 73,000 words in – almost exactly the length of Velocity – and I’m probably only a quarter way through. Two fifths at most. This is gonna be a big book. And it’s the first of a planned three. Obviously my last epic fantasy wasn’t epic enough.

Seriously though, I’m having a great time writing it. Can’t believe I’ve been doing this professionally for like twenty years and I’ve never actually attempted a quote-unquote ‘Western’ (i.e. vaguely European-feeling) fantasy. Broken Sky was all anime-style and had the conceit that everyone had a superpower. The Braided Path was also much more influenced by Japanese and Chinese culture. I grew up on books like Shannara, Dragonlance and obviously Lord of the Rings and while this book, I stress, is not really much like any of them, it at least comes from the same region. Writing an epic fantasy in the traditional mould is like coming home.

Except obviously it won’t actually be traditional. You know me by now, right?